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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Freshman guard John Green
had 17 points and nine rebounds and freshman forward Alan
Williams added 10 points and seven boards, as UC Santa Barbara
opened its 2011-12 basketball season with a 67-51 exhibition win
over San Francisco State on Saturday night at the
Thunderdome.

Green and Williams, along with sophomore guard Kyle
Boswell, sparked an 11-0 second half run that turned a 47-45
Gaucho lead into a 58-45 advantage. Boswell had 11 points in
the game.

"I didn't like the way we came out to start the second half,"
said UCSB head coach Bob Williams. "We didn't come out with
much personality, so I brought in a new five and that seemed to get
us back on track. I really liked the energy that group played
with."

The Gauchos led 30-20 at halftime but the Gators used a 13-2 run
to open the second half, taking a 33-32 lead. At that point,
Williams subbed in Green, Boswell, senior Greg
Somogyi, and freshmen T.J. Taylor
and Lewis
Thomas. Green immediately made a three-pointer to give
UCSB a 35-33 lead that it never relinquished.

San Francisco State kept the game close until the 11-0
run. Senior Christian
Peterson started the run with 7:42 left in the game when he was
fouled while making a lay-up. He missed the free throw, but
Williams knocked the ball out of bounds off of a Gator and the
Gauchos retained possession.

Back-to-back lay-ups by Williams and Boswell boosted the lead to
53-45. Another lay-up by Williams and a long
three-pointer by Boswell completed the rally and gave UCSB a 58-45
lead.

"I was really nervous at the start of the game," Williams
said. "Playing in front of our own crowd really got me
going. It was a great experience."

A 6-foot-7 post player from Phoenix, Williams is expected to
play a role for Santa Barbara when the regular season begins on
Nov. 11. In fact, he, Green and Taylor will almost
undoubtedly be on the active roster rather than redshirting.

"Those three will play," declared Bob Williams, who is entering
his 14th season at UCSB. "Big Al (Williams) will
get time at the five. T.J. (Taylor) is going to bring us some
good things at the point and John (Green) has such a good feel for
things, especially offensively. He can just flat-out
score."

Green, a native of Oakland, played at Westwind Prep in Phoenix
last year and while he accompanied the Gauchos on their five-game
tour of eastern Canada, he did not play because he had an injured
food. In fact, he was inactive for three months prior to
being cleared just before the start of practice in October.

"He was basically idol for three months, in a cast and a walking
boot," Coach Williams said. "He is going to be even better as
his conditioning improves, but he just has such a good feel on the
offensive end."

Senior James
Nunnally scored 13 points to give UCSB four players in
double-figures. Nunnally also added a game-high six assists
and had just one turnover. He made 3-of-4 shots from beyond
the 3-point arc. Boswell was 3-of-5.

Santa Barbara was playing without senior guard Orlando
Johnson, who was nursing a sore Achilles, and sophomore
transfer forward Keegan
Hornbuckle who had a sore back.

The Gators were led by Nefi Perdomo and Griffin Reilly who had
20 and 16 points respectively.

The Gauchos open the regular season on Friday, Nov. 11 when they
host Chapman College in a 7:00 p.m. game at the Thunderdome.
Tickets are available from the Ticket Office in the Intercollegiate
Athletics Building on campus, by calling 805-893-UCSB (8272) or
on-line by clicking here.